Welcome to a laptop battery specialist of the <Acer laptop battery
Acer has long been at the forefront of Intel’s push for thin and light laptops. It was the first manufacturer to launch in Intel’s narrowly defined ‘Thin and Light’ form factor with the super-lightweight Timeline series, and followed up each new iteration of lower-voltage Intel chips with well-performing Timeline models that didn’t dent your wallet too heavily. When it came to Ultrabooks, Acer launched the S3 early, but the Timeline M3 is the flagship product. Timeline has always stood for long battery life without compromise – the question is, how does the newest instalment fare?
Everything about the M3 is understated, given the specifications. The chassis is a fingerprint-resistant matte black, as are the keys of the isolated keyboard – with number pad, mind. There are a few nods to this being at the higher end of Acer’s with battery like Acer SQ-1100 battery , Acer SQ-2100 battery , Acer TravelMate 660 battery , Acer TravelMate 8000 battery , Acer BTP-APJ1 battery , Acer BTP-AQJ1 battery , Acer BTP-ARJ1 battery , Acer TravelMate 2420 battery , Acer BATCL32 battery , Acer Aspire 2000 battery , Acer Aspire 2200 battery , Acer AS07B72 battery range, such as the delicately curved rear of the base and large trackpad, but ‘functional and utilitarian’ is the dominant aesthetic.
The base is resistant to torsion and pressure, but the lid is held on only by two hinges. I’m a fan of barrel hinges, and the setup that Acer uses here allows far too much flex in the lid, in my opinion. It might mean extra protection is advisable when travelling, but if your laptop is more staycation than vacation, it definitely won’t cause issues.
While we’re looking at the lid in detail, let’s talk about the screen. It’s 1366 x 768 resolution, which, for a 15.6-inch screen, is disappointing. Compare that to the Samsung Series 9 and Dell XPS 14, which both have 1600 x 900 screens, with smaller overall screen size. The horizontal viewing angle isn’t enormous, either. The colours seem a little muddy, despite the glossy screen. Given the DVD drive, you can at least view 720p video, but your games are going to look so-so.
The Timeline is designed to be a mobile desktop replacement – emphasis on the mobile – so comfort and usability are important. There are both good points and bad points here for the Timeline. On the negative side, the on/off switch was just under the curved edge at the front of the laptop. That would have been okay if I hadn’t used it in my lap. It’s in a spot that several times collided with my body when I shifted position on the sofa, giving me a sudden ‘shutting down’ notification that I wasn’t expecting. Also poor, from my perspective, was that all ports are on the back of the laptop. Even the headphone port is at the rear, which caused some interesting issues. Still, you get three USB ports – one USB 3.0 – as well as HDMI-out and a full-sized Ethernet port, even on a laptop with a 21mm thick chassis, so it’s a bit cheeky of me to complain. But while I am... the touchpad, too, I found over-responsive, resulting in a few wayward cursors. However, many of the usability negatives are outweighed by the fact that the Timeline has a truly comfortable keyboard. It has excellent travel, with just the right amount of bounce to make you feel as though you could type all day.